


Those Left Behind

by Zerrat



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Behind the Scenes, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss, POV Minor Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-04
Updated: 2012-03-04
Packaged: 2017-11-01 03:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/351211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zerrat/pseuds/Zerrat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kunsel meets Cissnei in a run-down bar in the slums, he realizes that there can be no happy ending to this sorry tale. They were too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Left Behind

They meet in a rundown bar in the slums, most often frequented by the disgruntled and the jobless and the borderline rebellious. Kunsel wears a long coat and sunglasses to hide his SOLDIER enhancements, but despite his best efforts the other patrons keep a wary eye on him. Beside him sits the Turk, and she's dressed in plain clothes and seems to fit right in.

Cissnei is a Turk, after all, and this sort of under-handed blending is what they do best. He tries not to think of what confidences she's betraying, just by meeting him here. 

He needs to know, just as much as she needs to tell.

They sit in silence, and the minutes drag on uncomfortably. Kunsel feels frustrated, but he doesn't have the nerve to break it. He looks down at his hands, and he wonders if it's just his imagination or if they're really shaking. No news is good news, he tells himself, but he knows it's not the case.

He waits for Cissnei to gather herself. She picks up the shot of Wutai's finest she's been toying with for the past half hour, and tosses it back.

"I'm not sure what to say. I had it all planned out, but now none of it seems right." There's a peculiar catch in Cissnei's voice.

That's when Kunsel knows for sure that there is going to be no happy ending to this story. He stares down at his hands, wordless as Zack's life seems to slip through his fingers and into nothingness once more. Kunsel closes his hands, weary of the failure and grief and unable to bear the thought of how close they'd been.

The silence continues. Kunsel has a thousand questions and none of the courage to ask them. 

Zack would have laughed, fed him some line about SOLDIER and courage and gotten on with the task at hand.

Zack is also dead, and it's for real this time.

"Did you bring him home?"

"Wasn't anything left to bring. Just blood. Or I would have." Cissnei wets her lips, staring at something beyond the empty shot-glass in her hands. "We were so close."

"I know." 

Kunsel realises that he should comfort her, but he doesn't even know where to begin when his head is a mess. He feels angry, but he's spent ounce of himself now. After all the false hope and futile planning of the last year, Kunsel isn't sure he can really process 'dead again'. Not now. Maybe not ever. 

He feels the strangest urge to laugh at this whole thing.

"The Buster Sword?" Kunsel feels like he needs to ask. It seems _so important._ The sword was Zack's heart, his soul, his legacy. Imagining it out in the Midgar waste, rusting and falling apart in the wind and the rain makes Kunsel shy away from his own emotions, away from the intensity of his grief.

"Gone, too." Cissnei takes a breath, and its shaking. Maybe she's crying – Kunsel can't bear to look, because if he does then his urge to laugh hysterically will become the urge to weep.

"I'm done with this."

When Cissnei leaves the bar a few minutes later, Kunsel knows that he won't see her again. She's hit her limit, losing Zack _like that._ Kunsel can hardly blame her. ShinRa expects steel from their Turks, but the Turks are only made of flesh and blood.

Same with SOLDIERs, no matter how much mako they're treated with. There's always a limit.

Kunsel leaves the bar not long after Cissnei. He's got nothing but the sword on his back and the sparse gil in his wallet. Kunsel picks a direction at random and begins to walk, through the bustling crowds, past the run-down houses and the damaged old roads. 

He doesn't stop until he's beyond Midgar, away from the grime and the treachery and the betrayal. He doesn't stop to think about what Zack might have done in his place, or of honour or loyalty or sacrifice. He doesn't feel anything at all, except for bitterness and regret.

ShinRa's taken too much, and Kunsel has nothing left to give.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Those Left Behind [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3607404) by [tinypinkmouse_podfic (tinypinkmouse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinypinkmouse/pseuds/tinypinkmouse_podfic)




End file.
